Excursion to Mar Lodj

In counting down the days and weeks until my service is complete, much of my time has been taken up by completing a Senegalese "bucket list" of things that I want to do before I leave. My good friend Tamar lives on an island down in what's called the Sine-Saloum river delta and I've been telling her I would visit her since she moved there in October of 2009. Well, time is running short, so the ladies and I finally made a group trip to Mar Lodj this past weekend.

Last Thursday I met Alyssa and Katherine in the Thies garage for an early morning departure. Katherine, working her seemingly endless garage magic, managed to get us the last three spots in a car headed to Joal which is a coastal town about halfway between Thies and Tamar's site. I like to think I helped the situation by eating my weight in cashews while we waited to leave (seriously...I've developed an unhealthy addiction. They're just so good!) Alyssa and I had already picked up some food supplies for making dinner on the island, but when we reached Joal to change garages we were on the lookout for shrimp. We searched high and low, but no shrimp were to be found.

We did however have the most randomly delicious lunch ever. As we were walking towards the garage in the midday sun (I'm sure I was already sunburned at this point), a random guy walks up to us and asks if we'd like "something with bread" for lunch. After already scavenged for food at two closed hotels, we were up for anything and followed this mysterious man as if he had promised us filet mignon. I would have been happy with a bean sandwich, but instead the dude - who turned out to be the owner of a small restaurant - set us up at a table overlooking a river with real glassware and silverware. We were served huge plates of chicken, salad, fries and bread for the equivalent of $3 a piece and none of us could really believe what was happening. What was this magical place? We ate happily. And then I saved a puppy from drowning in a fish farm pond. All in a day's work.

Filled with chicken, we headed back to the garage where we were told that a car had just left for a town called Ndongong, which sits on the opposite side of the river from Tamar's site. We were offered a seat in a completely empty bus which would have taken hours to fill. A random taxi driver was loitering around the bus and I happened to ask him how much it would be to rent out the car to get us there. He quoted the same price as a pass on the bus and we all burst out laughing; he just stood there with a confused look on his face. We rushed him to his car and threw our bags in, hoping he wouldn't come to his senses and realize he was totally being ripped off (I think this is the one and only time in Senegal where someone has quoted me a price for something and I thought I heard wrong because the price was too low). Off we went through the salt flats and arrived in Ndongong about an hour or so later.

We took a short boat ride across the river and then walked to Tamar's house which sits near the shore. We were greeted with open arms by Tamar, her friend Laura who was visiting from the States, and our friend Byron who had accompanied Tamar and Laura on a several hour boat trip earlier that day. The group of us took a tour around Tamar's site and village, met Tamar's host family and all her adorable host siblings, and then enjoyed a cold beer at the only "bar" in town (i.e. tiny room with one table). We called it an early night after a delicious pasta dinner and liquor tasting courtesy of Tamar and Laura's visit to a local distillery.

Awkwardly navigating our river boat

Mar Lodj is full of Catholics! (yay)

Cold beer? Don't mind if we do.

The following morning we indulged in a delectable Tapalapa breakfast. Tapalapa is what is called "village bread" and unlike the French baguettes that everyone eats which are processed and have zero nutritional value, Tapalapa is a really dense bread that almost tastes like ciabatta bread. The Senegalese consider it food for poor people which makes no sense because it's infinitely better than machine made French bread. There's one dude who sells it in Pout and even then he's only there on some days so I literally jump up and down with excitement when I see him. He probably thinks I'm crazy.

After breakfast, we took a charette (donkey cart) all the way across the island to a little beach campement that is owned by some Senegalese friends of Tamar. We spent the day lounging by the beach, eating a delicious fish lunch, and jumping off the docks. I lost my fake Ray Bans because it's not actually a good idea to dive face first into water while still wearing your sunglasses. Surprise. We also spent way too much time trying to figure out how crabs breathe...as in, how they can stay under water so long and then run around on land. We were really confused (and apparently conversation topics were lacking at that point). Turns out, crabs have gills just like fish do, so they can breathe underwater and when they're scooting around on land they need to keep their gills moist in order to take in oxygen from the water. Now you know! Hooray for crab facts.

Outside the campement

Once back at Tamar's house, we started preparing an elaborate all-American chicken dinner. We had "ordered" two chickens from Tamar's village that morning and invited Tamar's host mom and sister to dine with us. They showed up with the chickens and plucked and butchered them outside of Tamar's house. We insisted that we cook for the women, and they were obviously hesitant in entrusting us with preparing a meal, but we succeeded in shooing them away. After a failed attempt at grilling over a wood fire grill due to damp firewood, we eventually pan fried the chicken in enough butter and oil to kill a small child. We also made heaping piles of sweet potato fries and onion rings and served the women on a giant platter. It was probably more chicken than they had ever eaten, and they even finished the onion rings! We were shocked as the Senegalese typically refuse to put anything in their mouths that isn't exactly what they are used to. We also had our fill and after cleaning up we headed for bed.

Before calling it a night I couldn't help taking in the unbelievable view of the stars in the night sky. Courtesy of the lack of light pollution, they totally blew me away. I will say that my envy of Tamar's site runs deep when it comes to its tranquility and natural beauty. Pout officially has neither of those things. While I'm glad I have the creature comforts of a bigger town and can sit here writing this blog thanks to internet inside my house, I truly miss being somewhere beautiful. When I move back to America I'll be saying goodbye to the Midwest and making Seattle my new home and I could not be more excited. I'm a bit terrified of starting from scratch, but the thought of being close to the ocean, mountains, and more natural parks than I could ever have the time to explore makes the change worthwhile (not to mention I'll be close to the Mom and Steve will be there too which is a major bonus!).

We packed up and headed out of Tamar's site early Saturday morning. After a lunch in Thies with Kerry, the Peace Corps Response volunteer, to discuss upcoming Junior Achievement training for the new volunteers, I was back in Pout by late afternoon. I can't believe the new kids get here next week! My future replacement will be officially stepping off of a plane next Wednesday. It's crazy.

Since being back in Pout this week I've been somewhat busy wrapping up various things. I held my final Junior Achievement class on Monday and handed out certificates to all of my students. It was truly bittersweet knowing that it was the final time I'd be teaching in Pout. My students claimed that they really enjoyed the class and that's all I can ask for (they also claimed they actually understood the material which is always a plus). I also finished all but one of my Michele Sylvester Scholarship interviews and managed to track down the girl who was MIA. Turns out she lives three houses away from me. Go figure.

Final Junior Achievement class (single tear)

I was originally planning on spending most of this weekend up in St. Louis for the annual Jazz Festival, but thanks to my recent excursions I am close to broke. I don't regret any of the trips I've taken though and avoiding Jazz Fest allowed me to have a week to relax and recollect myself. On Sunday I'm off to Dakar for my Close of Service conference. It will be the last time I will ever be with my entire Peace Corps group! I'll be there until Thursday and I probably won't see many of them again after we all part ways. It will be a very strange experience and just another step among many in the long process of "letting go" of Senegal.

Pictures are up in the album "Last Months in Senegal." Jamm ak Jamm